In this post, we will start with a very special Chinese character, “珏” (jué), and explore the splendid and profound mysteries of jade in Chinese culture, as well as the relationship between jade culture and Chinese characters.
Category: Compound ideographs
Decoding 元旦: 一, the Smallest but Mightiest
Most people are familiar with the characters 元旦 (“Yuán Dàn”), but do you know why the first day of the year is called 元旦?
Continue reading “Decoding 元旦: 一, the Smallest but Mightiest”尧 high
尧 is derived from 堯, in which 垚 (yáo) is soil or a high mountain, and 兀 (wù) is a person in kneeling pose, so “尧” means high. 尧 is compound ideograph. Continue reading “尧 high”
勾
勾, cognate with 句, serves as a phonetic component to form characters. Continue reading “勾”
莫 Sun sets in the grass
莫 serves as a phonetic component to form characters. Nearly most of the characters formed by the phonetic component 莫 have the same consonant “m”and vowel “o” for the pronunciation. Continue reading “莫 Sun sets in the grass”